Month: March 2018

Spammers, hackers and phases of the moon.

Posted on by Nancy Tang

I’m getting tired of spammers, hackers and strange goings on due to phases of the moon.

Today I’ve spent a lot of time working to improve security on my site. I’ve had to disallow commenting on my site because nasty people have created bots that post spam on WordPress blogs automatically and I don’t have time to delete them all.

I’ve also blocked someone from trying to hack my ID/PW twice today. Now they are IP banned.

I’ve learned more than I want to know about all the bastards in the world who are why we can’t have nice things. I must say, I’ve had websites for over 20 years and these days it’s the worst I’ve ever seen with regard to spam/hacking etc…. all that effort just to screw with other people who are just trying to make a living. Imagine if they would all just use that effort and intellect for the benefit of mankind…

I’m going to upgrade my security system when I can and block entire countries. I’m not going to ship there anyway and the majority of crap comes from them: China, Russia, UA, Ukraine, India…… even France, yep France. Weirdly enough none of it has come from Nigeria; I guess they only use low tech scamming techniques like email… I did get one wholesale request from Nigeria this week.  I emailed back and said if they were gonna be criminals they needed to try harder. The company they said they were from does not exist and there is no building at the address they gave… yay google earth. Plus their IP was easy to trace to Nigeria. Do better folks.

There are so  many bots out in the interwebs; they are all over a post like this like flies on feces; seconds after I hit publish I see these little bots all over it…

Wth universe – The drain in my kitchen sink broke last night;  I mean BROKE.. it’s a 100 year old sink and the metal just snapped. The hard drive on my laptop is dying and now the pellet stove in my studio is dead. Come ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN….

:End Rant

SEO, Taxes & Swiss Cheese – what do these 3 things have in common?

Posted on by Nancy Tang

SEO, Taxes & Swiss Cheese

Well, me. I’ve spent the better part of the week doing my business and personal taxes. Now as if that weren’t enough, I decided I needed to work on my websites, their content and my SEO. Recently I ported all my sites over to this new host and to the WordPress platform. For the last 20 years I’ve used HTML and had optimization down fairly well… then came WordPress and all that went out the window, sort of.  So today I’ve been researching, tweeking, submitting etc… Apparently I got a little fried because 1/2 hour into trying to prove to google that I did, indeed, own my  own website, I forgot why I was doing it!! I remember now… it was so I could submit my new pages to the search engine.

I’ve installed plugins, I’ve changed page titles and text to increase my chances at a higher ranking. After all that I decided well heck, I don’t have very many products on my site yet so let’s add a bracelet with 6 variations in color, AND inventory management. That didn’t go so well at first either, but, eventually I got it to work.

My mind is now officially Swiss, cheese that is.

Ah, the life of an entrepreneur….

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Here is a good article for those like me just getting started with really trying to work WordPress

Today I’ve added my SnapDragon(tm) Bracelets, check out those variations!

 

Down Time - What we do in Maine when the tourists go home

Down Time – What we do in Maine when the tourists go home

Posted on by Nancy Tang

It’s Artist Down Time  here in Maine. The time of year when the tourists have fled to warmer climes and I sit looking out the window at 3′ of snow. Often customers at the cooperatives will ask us what we do all winter; we wonder this too…..

Once we close the cooperatives in late October (mostly) we do holiday shows, enjoy our families and then comes the lull in January/February. We make no money in the winter months unless we have successfully navigated the Etsy  or other online waters. There are a few shows between the new year and spring but not many, and generally not great anyway.  Mostly I plan to make a lot of stock over the winter and to get to all those house cleaning projects I’ve put off all summer, but what really happens is I collapse,  the last two winters I’ve experienced severe family illnesses, I try to enjoy the holidays, I do my taxes (OMFG) and come April I’ve created NOTHING.  I’ve spent a lot of time organizing stuff for the coops, researching new products, new galleries, applying to shows, working on the websites, ordering supplies and I’ve even finished a few paintings. I haven’t been in the studio.. except to clean .. for months. I plan to do better, but I always seem to fail.

It’s ok my taxes are done, family is ok,  and I still have April!! I have hope!! Maybe I’ll get some backstock created!! Maybe I’ll get some new products done!! I have designed a few pieces for an art gallery so hey I’m ahead already! A little down time is also good for the soul, helps us to recharge for the crazy season that is just around the corner!